EXHAUSTED

[diane227, LPN, RN]

Are any of you just so tired that you can almost not get out of bed in the morning? My job right now is just killing me. I have been a nurse for almost 34 years and have done jobs much more difficult than this one. But for some reason, I just am getting to the point where I want to call in sick every day.

I work as the 3-11 charge nurse of a 34 bed medical, surgical, orthopedic floor. We are at capacity most of the time and we usually have a lot of isolation patients. I love the people I work with on my shift (3-11) but we have some 12 hour people that we have to put up with for 4 hours on our shift and some of them you could not pry up off a chair with a jack hammer. And they complain non stop. I am just at the point where I just almost cannot take it any more. Our manager is trying to fix this mess but due process is a long process.

I have had, over the last month, so many things added to my charge nurse duty list that I cannot get all my work done. I never finish signing off charts until about 9:30 at night. That does not leave me any time to make rounds on every patient and do all these check lists I am supposed to be doing. AND I am the one that is supposed to be going around EVERY HOUR to make sure the nurses and the CNA's have turned the patients bed alarms on!!! I never get a break and I never get out on time.

Are any of you suffering from this type of thing? :argue:

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

I feel your pain!! Have you sat down with your manager to see if there is a way to better delegate some of these task to the other nurses, particularly the 12 hour shift people. As you said some you cant pry out of the chair. Surely they can perform some of these if they have time to sit and chat it up. I left a job not long ago for these very reasons of feeling exhausted all the time, my b/p was off the top, and I hated getting up in the morning. Make a list, see if you can find ways to either delegate or rethink the time management. I like you was also taking on everyone else's responsibilites as sometimes it was easier for me to just go do it then worry about if someone else was actually doing what they were supposed to be doing. I learned it's not always the best way to go and was killing myself trying. I finally found a 8:30-5 job behind a desk as a clinical manager in Home Health and love it. Busy but at the end of the day I can sleep and wake up feeling good about going in.

[sistasoul]

I agree with the above poster. If some of the nurses are sitting than they have time to help you. I really don't see where they have time to sit and chat but everyone is different. I don't know how my charge nurse does it. She has to take 4 patients and usually gets an admit. She rarely gets out on time.

I would definitely see if some of your duties can be reassigned to where the nurses are responsible for them.

[llg, PhD, RN]

While it sounds like your job is a big contributer to your exhaustion, you might also want to consider discussing it with your primary care provider. I was having problems with exhaustion a few years ago (when I was 51 years old) and was blaming it on the fact that I had taken a 2nd job. The exhaustion became extreme and I mentioned it to my doctor. Lab work confirmed that my thyroid levels were low. A little Synthroid worked miricles for me. I felt the first dose "kick in" 3 hours after I took it -- as if I were waking up from having been in a fog for a year or so.

The problem may be 100% your job -- but you are not getting any younger -- and you may be having some health problems that are contributing to your exhaustion. My body changed dramatically with menopause. I developed hypertension, pre-diabetes, hypothyroid, hyperlipidemia -- all within a 2 or 3 year period. As they say, "It's H*** to get old." So, make sure you are taking great care of yourself to be sure you have the energy to do all the things you want to do in life.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Op I used to feel the same as you until I learned to say No. I cut back on my hours, I made it very clear to my boss that I was exhausted especially with the extra tasks being a charge nurse. I no longer let my job oveerwork me and exhause me. Saying no feels sooooo good.

[vivacious1healer]

Sounds like you are getting burned out. And with your co-workers complaining, and yet sitting on their butts, it only fuels the frustration of an already difficult job as charge nurse.

I too feel like calling in sick, and have used a few days to do so, if only for my mental health. I feel as though all of us are so over worked and stressed out lately, that we end up not being team players.

After joining committees and attending several meetings with manager and director to be part of the solution, I saw no improvement (after 1 1/2 years).

I decided to step down from committees, and go part time. I couldn't be happier since I made this decision!

[diane227, LPN, RN]

Thanks so much you guys. I know you feel my pain. As a former manager I am very good at delegation and I do it constantly. But it still does not get done. For example, I needed to have these bed alarms checked and sure enough when the person went around to check them, she found 5 high fall risk patients with their bed alarms off. I am also supposed to be making patient follow up calls. I can't call these people at 21:30 at night!.

I have been to my doctor and I am taking my thyroid medication. I also have chronic low back pain that is fairly well controlled by Volteren BID and periodic steroid injections into L3-S1. No narcotics, although a percocet at night when I get home when my back is always hurting would be a blessing. I went through surgical menopause at age 36 so that is over with. I am certainly carrying around a few extra pounds and that is not helping at all.

I have a good manager and she is responsive to our needs. Because of my experience I know what kind of trouble one can get into if certain things are not done and I try to explain this to those who don't want to be team players but I can't watch them every minute. Sometimes I feel like a babysitter.

I don't work full time. I work 4 days a week. I try to come in with a positive attitude but it is getting harder and harder every day. I need a vacation but I used up all my time last year going to Texas to see my uncle who was dying and to be out with my back. I will be getting a vacation in April so it is something to look forward to.

I am going to try to hang in here because one thing I have learned is "the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know" and my problems could be a lot worse somewhere else. Thanks for all your support. You know, as nurses we all go through the same kind of stuff don't we? No matter where we are or what we do.

[angel337, MSN, RN]

my hat goes off to every nurse that has been a bedside nurse beyond 10 years and counting. i can't do it any more if i can help it. pm shift is hard, no matter where you work and coupled with floor nursing it's even harder. some nurses i work with say that working part time is what has kept them at the bedside so long and they could not physically handle it full time. i work my bedside nursing job per diem and i feel a huge difference in my energy level. i don't want to come home and just crawl into bed like before. i acutually have energy for my family and activities that i once enjoyed before becoming a nurse. there isn't always an easy answer, i just think when enough is enough you have to do what is best for you in the long run.